The Prettiest Sparkliest Thing
by phaedra's love
Summary: Faith and Dawn head out on a mission to the Australian Outback where Dawn has a fair amount of trouble communicating with the aborigines.


Title: The Prettiest Sparkliest Thing

Author: Phaedra's Love

Fandom: BtVS

Pairing: Dawn/Faith

Disclaimer: This all belongs to Joss.

It wasn't long after Dawn set down the mug that she began to feel dizzy.

At first she thought that it was the heat that was getting to her. Faith still hadn't installed the air conditioner they'd picked up the last time they'd been in town. Which was, Dawn felt the need to point out, over a month ago. Faith tried her best to convince Dawn that the heat made her horny. Dawn scoffed just thinking about it. As if there was any point in time where Faith wasn't horny. Faith wanted sex when she woke up in the morning, before she went to bed at night, during lunch break, after afternoon training and of course anytime she'd just finished with a good slay.

Dawn never complained about the missing air conditioner. It would be a very bad thing if Faith stopped wanting sex, in her estimation. Besides, it wasn't like Faith was the repairman, she was the slayer. Dawn's slayer. She smiled at that.

It, however was definitely not the heat that was raking it's way into Dawn's skin, and frying her brain into an unrecognizable mass of synapses and nerves. The heat had never effected her like this before, the heat had never made the bottle of liquid soap by the sink start singing showtunes.

"Whoa..." Dawn's lips formed the word slowly, deliberately and it sounded like a video in slow motion. The sound long and drawn out as she took a quick step back and almost landed on the floor. Quickly she steadied herself and looked around the room as the walls waivered and bounced.

Something...Was...Definitely...Not...Right.

Dawn swallowed hard and blinked again, her pupils dilated and round as her heartbeat quickened and slowed in rapid succession.

"Dawn?" The familiar voice rang out from behind her like a fire engine whistle and Dawn yelped and turned around to face the brunette lounging by the couch. Her hips swayed to the side, as her fingertips dug into the back of the couch. Dawn licked her lips.

Pretty. Sparkly.

"F-F-Faith!" Dawn finally managed to stammer out, holding onto the counter now not sure whether she was afraid to fall or afraid of the burst of laughter building up somewhere in her diaphram. "You shouldn't sneak up on people like that! You could like totally give me a heart attack and then Buffy would kick your ass."

"D, I didn't sneak up on you." She shook her head, dark locks falling softly into her face as she swaggered up off the couch and towards her Watcher. "Yo. You sick or something? You're not lookin' so good."

Was that worry etched into the pale face in front of her? Dawn wasn't sure so she just went with her first instinct and burst out laughing. Now there was worry. Definitely worry. Dawn couldn't stop laughing. Accidently, she let go of the countertop and spilled forward, the floor rushing up towards her quickly until she was met by slayer arms. Faith hauled her back up to her feet and now Dawn was sure that was worry beneath those familiar dark eyes. Pretty. Sparkly.

"Dawn." Faith gripped her arms and gave her a little shake and the look on her face was enough to make Dawn stop laughing for the moment. She was trying really hard not to. "What's wrong? Did you take something?"

"What? No!" Dawn exclaimed, her expression suddenly turning completely serious as she glared at Faith through wide pale eyes.

"You ain't been drinkin'." Faith said with a nod of approval before pushing Dawn down in one of the kitchen chairs.

"Just tea." Dawn said proudly. "You know, Giles always drinks his tea and I wanted to be Watchery." With that she burst out laughing again, doubling over in her seat and wrapping her arms around her waist.

"Tea?" The dark slayer frowned before inspecting the counter and it's contents. A small plastic bag with a few herbs in the bottom of it was the only item save for the mug Dawn had just been drinking out of. Faith picked up the bag, and sniffed the contents before wrinkling her nose and turning to Dawn.

"Dawn! This isn't tea!" Now Faith was laughing too, just a slight twitch and the corners of her mouth tilted upwards. Dawn couldn't help but stare for a minute at the prettiest sparkliest sight she had ever seen. "These are mushrooms."

"Mushrooms? Who'd put mushrooms in tea? Eww!" Dawn exclaimed, breaking out of her trance at the disapproving look Faith was vehemently throwing her way.

"Not regular mushrooms, Brainiac. I'm talkin' about magic mushrooms. You're trippin' face right now. Where the hell did you get these?"

"I traded today with some of the locals." Dawn frowned. Mushrooms? She'd asked for tea and she was sure that her Palawa Kani was up to date. Mostly. Probably. Hopefully.

"You might be a watcher but this ain't no tea." Faith insisted. "How could you do this?"

"I don't know! They don't speak English! I bet you couldn't even talk to them at all!" Dawn protested indignantly, the customary pout returning to her lips and her arms crossing across her chest defensively. "They speak Palawa Kani."

"Palawha?"

With that Dawn burst into another fit of giggles. She wasn't entirely sure what was so funny but she knew suddenly that the world was one big bright ball of sunshine. Even though Faith would probably tattle on her. Even though Faith would probably lecture her about it. Sometimes Dawn thought Faith was a completely different animal then Buffy and then she was reminded just how alike they were.

She didn't want to dissect that.

"Are you mad at me?" She finally asked between a giggle and a snort, desperately trying to keep her face serious and straight.

"Yes! How come you didn't save any for me!"


End file.
